I Started Playing Violin When I was Three

Learning violin was never my thing, it was my mom’s. My mom always said that playing violin as a kid would make me smarter. So at 3 years old, she took me to Suzuki music school to take violin lessons, and since then, I took lessons at Suzuki until 9th grade. I attended a prestigious summer camp called Kinhaven where I played in chamber groups and composed pieces, I played in a pop violin group called Vivace and toured with them in Spain and Florida, I was a prominent member of the Norwalk Youth Symphony, and I played paid gigs several times. I do believe I had talent in violin because I could learn music very quickly, much more so than my other high-performing violin peers. But I did stop playing violin in 9th grade when my school work and football became too busy, as I couldn’t secure enough time to practice violin. Violin is a beautiful instrument, but at that time, Football and school work were more important to me than the hours of practice violin requires to stay at the top of the game. Now, my relationship with violin is very healthy. I play the violin in my local church's band many Sundays, but it doesn't feel like a burden. I’m glad my mom made me learn the violin so I could have the ability to wield for the rest of my life.